Sheffield United: Wilder sets goals target to secure promotion

Marc McNulty congratulates Billy Sharp on a goal for United - these two are among the men whose goals can win promotion. Photo: Sportimages

James Shield

Published:05:22Monday 13 June 2016

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Chris Wilder, the Sheffield United manager, believes his team must score more than 70 goals next season in order to secure promotion.

And, despite confirming he is exploring the possibility of signing a new centre-forward before they return to League One action in August, Wilder told The Star United already have the firepower at their disposal to reach that target.

With Marc McNulty, Che Adams, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and last term’s leading scorer Billy Sharp set to report back for training later this month, Wilder: “If Billy gets 20, McNulty scores and Che, who’s got that ability as well, does the business then, yes, we can do it. I don’t see any reason why not.

“Then there’s Dom as well who we had at Northampton on loan and got 10 before Christmas even though he didn’t start every week. The lads coming off the bench, when the games are getting stretched, have to do their part. Wherever they come from, it has to tally up to more than 70. If you get there then, in my opinion, you’ve given yourselves a great chance.”

Wilder, who lifted the League Two title at Sixfields before taking charge at Bramall Lane, has identified a “physical targetman type of player” as one of his leading transfer priorities as he searches for “a different option” during games.

But, refuting suggestions that United could get punished if they are too gung-ho, Wilder said: “You’ve got to keep the ball out of the net, you can’t be giving away daft goals. Your goals against can’t go above 50, 55, 60 if you want to be successful.

“If you keep that under 45 times then you give yourself an opportunity. If you score more than 70 goals, then you’ve got a good chance too. I think we can do that, score more than 70, with the players that we’ve got.”